A 'Stranded' Story
by Midnight Cheesecake Maker
Summary: Because I have no title. A quick introspective one-shot based on the Swiss Family Robinson adaptation Stranded. Jacob contemplates a few things on the day he's reunited with the family he'd lost years before.


Disclaimer: I don't own it. The movie is Hallmark, the story, Johann David Wyss'.

A/N: So, I've loved this adaptation of The Swiss Family Robinson since my mother and I happened across it in a Blockbuster one cold winter afternoon. Years later, I'd forgotten who was in it apart from that guy who is on House now, but then I watched the Syfy movie Alice and couldn't figure out why the heck Hatter looked so familiar! Cut me a break, I'm from Canada. BBC Canada and PBS don't exactly have the variety I wish it did. Back on point, did a search, made the connection, and was on Amazon before you could say something cliche that's supposed to only take a second. This has been sitting on my hard drive since 2009 and I figured I'd finally share it, since, you know, all of Andrew-Lee Potts' scenes from it are up on Youtube now. People may actually know about this little gem now. Anyway, I'm maybe hoping just a teensy bit that this might inspire more fics written about this movie because I know I can't be the only person out there who loves it this much. And if I am, then wow, I'm lamer than previously thought, and believe me, I have a fairly good sense of just how lame I am. And now I'm rambling. Brilliant.

* * *

><p>He didn't know what to think. What to feel. Sometime in the past seven years the ties that bound him to his family tree had become slack, frayed. Granted, he never forgot. But he'd spent some of his most formative years under the guardianship of another. He'd felt cared for. Loved even. And now that was gone. But he'd gotten back what he'd lost. Hadn't he?<p>

There'd been too much. Those days that followed what would be the turning point in his life had been some of the darkest. A young boy, not even ten, forced to take the responsibility of seperating a delirious mother from the child that had long stilled in her arms. The memory haunted him still. Setting the child down to rest in the murky deep while they were adrift, knowing not if one or all would follow next, he'd recited a prayer on behalf of the tiny soul.

Blunt had observed him carefully. Perhaps he'd taken pity on the boy. Or perhaps he'd been dumbstruck by the maturity of the lad. Maybe it was because he'd been so completely taken with the boy's mother. Perhaps it was because he saw opportunity where it lay. Regardless of the reasons, Thomas Blunt'd taken the boy in and treated him as his own, best he could.

Experience was his teacher, he thought bitterly. Blunt had shown him a thing or two to be sure, but it was the seven years doing as he pleased and taking what he wanted that had created the man he was now. Of course, that urging voice in the back of his mind, pleading with him never to forget, had left Jacob Robinson - Jakey to his friends - with a conscience considerably finer tuned that those of his shipmates. He was still a pirate and a cheat, but there were things the others had done, even Blunt, that'd often left him grimacing and turning away in disgust.

Even now, with the obvious betrayal of the man he'd viewed almost as a father, he couldn't stop himself from mourning the loss. Blunt had held his family - his true family - hostage, thereby holding him hostage. "One false move from you, Jakey, and they're all gone," had been the warning.

It had been a painful reunion. The melody that had carried on the wind had nearly rendered him immobile. His brows had knit together and he'd felt an unexpected queasiness upon hearing the familiar tune. The knotting in his stomach increased as he fell back behind the rest of the crew. It wasn't possible. It just wasn't possible.

Yet there they stood, all of them, as disbelieving as he was. And with much bravado, Blunt had reintroduced Jacob to his family. They were all stunned into silence, before his mother attempted to run to him, held back by his father and brother. She cried for him, desperate. His father demanded he come to his family. He walked way. What else could he do? He knew Blunt's intentions. He knew immediately what his family's presence on this island meant. If he dared cross the line, they would be gone, forever this time.

The forced indifference was even more difficult. He inwardly cringed every time one of his brothers glared in his direction. He grew progressively more melancholy as the evening advanced. His mother would glance at him, a deep sadness in her eyes. She tried to speak to him, but he was forced to keep his mouth clamped shut, ignore her and the love he so desperately wanted from her. His father too, held a similar look in his eye, but with a stern edge that only served to further increase Jacob's distress.

The utter disgust from his younger sister tormented him all the more. She'd once looked up to him, followed him about like a faithful lap dog. Once they could even have been considered the best of friends. They were considerably younger than Fritz and Ernst, as both had been in their teens when their father had been exiled, while Jacob and Sarah had been nine and seven and a half respectably. She'd sat next to him on the ship, trying to be brave, to speak of things she knew nothing about to impress him. Now all she did was peer icily at him. He even overheard her exclaim her disbelief it was actually him, the sense of betrayal evident in her voice.

What he would have given to run to his family and explain to them this wasn't his doing, it's just how it had to be. Try to make them understand, he was torn between worlds and forbidden to make a choice.

Not that Jacob would have known what choice to make at the time. It was only in retrospect could he be relieved he'd never had to.

He supposed this was meant to be the happy ending. The villan dead, the family reunited, rescued, exonerated. Yet it was bittersweet for him. How could it not be? Even now, with Blunt dead, having told him that it was never really what Jacob had believed, that Blunt really only had cared about himself, his heart was still broken.

His mother had held him, finally, and with hesitatian diluted by his sobs, Jacob had embraced his mother and together they wept. He felt safe there, in the arms of his mother, like he should, but, undeniably, he also felt himself an interloper. An unwelcome stranger who'd reigned chaos down on their once blissful exsistence. They'd done fine without him. His family had grown together on this island. He'd been years away from them all. He didn't know them nor they him.

But his fears were abated as he found himself nearly drowning in a love he'd long been denied by near-impossible circumstance. His mother's love, his father's love. Even the hesitant love of his elder brothers, who after a long awkward moment, extended their arms and pulled him against them in a group embrace. Fritz even ruffled his hair, bringing a shy smile to Jacob's face.

It was Sarah still who kept her distance. Jacob could see her move away silently as the family came together and the fires stopped burning. It needed to be different with her. She needed an apology, something the others deemed unnecessary, though Jacob himself desperately wished to atone for his crimes.

Sarah needed a gesture, a peace offering. Something that would help her to understand Jacob had never meant to become the stranger she found so repugnant. That it wasn't at all who he truly was. That somewhere, deep down under the conflict and confusion, he was still who she remembered. That was where the challenge lie. Thankfully, Jakey -Jacob, he supposed he was to be once again- was always up for a challenge. A private smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. He already had something in mind.

* * *

><p>Well I hope you enjoyed it. Please, no flames. I'm sensative and I'd like to stay that way. Love, peace, chicken grease and MORE FICS ABOUT STRANDED!<p> 


End file.
